If you went to school at any point in your life you know there are rules to writing. Rules for punctuation, spelling, grammar. You know, that basic stuff. If you took a creative writing class in high school or college then you know that there are rules to constructing a story as well. What are those rules? Hell if I know. I've never had a creative writing class in my life.
But there are rules. I have writer friends who know this stuff backwards and forward. The GMCs of writing as opposed to the ABCs. Goals, Motivation and I have no idea what the C stands for. The black moment. The climax. The protagonist. The antagonist. The who what now.
Exactly. So many rules so many ways to interpret the rules. Metaphors. Similes. Prologue. Epilogue. What makes a writer successful is following the rules.
Unless you don't know the rules. And have a serious rebel complex and think the rules don't apply to you.
Do the rules apply to you?
Well, yes and no.
What?
What?
I don't know, you asked me first.
Are there hard and fast rules in genre fiction writing? No. and yes.
I know I'm confusing you.
This is genre fiction, it's not a professional paper for academic review. Yes there are rules in writing romance and any other genre of fiction. But those rules are incredibly fluid and bendable.
The hard and fast you can not break rules. Grammar, spelling, punctuation.
Breakable. Yep Breakable. In writing dialogue you are allowed to write as a character would speak. If you're southern like me, we tend to drop the g at the end of words. It doesn't make me ignorant, it makes me a product of my upbringing. Southern people speak a certain way. Western people speak a certain way. New Yorkers speak a certain way. And you are encouraged to have your characters speak in the way that makes sense for them. Spelling, grammar, nope doesn't exactly matter here.
But in narrative yes you should keep to the rules. Spelling and grammar and punctuation counts here.
All the rest of that stuff the Goals, motivation and what ever and how does that work? Well in crafting a story it is important to set up your main character's reason for being. And that is what that means. What is your main character's reason for being in this story? Is he looking for love. Acceptance. Revenge. A sandwich. What will be the ultimate outcome of this story. True love or the biggest sub sandwich known to man. And how are we going to get our hero to his ultimate ending.
The GMC is a technique to help a writer get from the beginning to the end with a satisfying story in between. Do you really need it? Well yeah, because it helps your readers follow what you're trying to tell them. Do you need to know what the C stands for? Well Yes. It's conflict. And you NEED conflict to make a story rock.
Why?
Well, without conflict there is nothing but a want and a HEA. I want a sandwich. Sandwich is delivered to my house. End of story. Exciting as hell. Hero wants some sex. He calls up a hooker. Not so much exciting as not what I'm wanting to read.
If you read my work you know that I write romance. And romance has it's own rules. It's own formula. Yes romance is incredibly formulaic. It's the nature of the genre. Boy/Girl meets Girl/Boy and there will be a Happy Ever After or at least a Happy For Now if you plan a series. What comes in the middle is the conflict that gets us to the end. What stands in the way of the ultimate HEA? What roller coaster ride will this book take your reader on. So the rules.
Goal- you need a goal- the HEA the girl the boy true love forever and ever or the best damn sandwich this side of the Mississippi River.
Motivation- you need to make your MC motivated to achieve this goal. As in he/she can't inherit millions of dollars. He/she will lose the farm. He/she just wants a damned sandwich because they are hungry and the boss won't let them have a break.
Conflict- you need conflict to make your MC's life hell. You need a rival for your love's affection. or a bad guy looking to blow up the world. You need something that keeps your MC from achieving his/her ultimate goal. There's a lien on the farm owned by your love interest's father and that father hates your guts and does not want you anywhere near his baby. Conflict. Father will give you the deed to your farm and cancel all debts owed if you never see his baby again. You ordered the sandwich and paid for it with your debit card and were promised that it would be delivered straight to your desk but terrorists take over your building to steal bearer-bonds and Bruce Willis must save your ass but your sandwich is stuck waiting outside the building with the FBI who are hungry and they appropriate your sandwich and eat it.
Some where in the story there will be some hot monkey sex, if you write erotic romance lots of hot monkey sex, if you write kink, on the ceiling with toys. And somewhere in the story there will a Black Moment.
What's a black moment? And ooooh Mercy is a racist.....well, no I'm not, and this isn't about race or the day after Thanksgiving when you score the diamond tennis bracelet or the thousand dollar shopping spree.
The Black Moment is that point in the story when everything has gone incredibly wrong and there is no hope left. This is the moment in which your MC will have to man up and prove himself/herself worthy of true love or that sandwich. This is when your MC has to be Bruce Willis and make the ultimate sacrifice to get back what he's lost. He took the deal. He accepted Daddy's money and swore to leave Baby alone forever and ever, because this saves his family farm and he will never have to worry about feeding the cows again. Or he can fight for his love. Give up the farm. Or somehow save the farm and win true love. This is when the sandwich delivery guy refuses the FBI and is strip searched and water boarded but he still manages to overcome and deliver that sandwich. And after what he's gone through for your sandwich you give him a huge tip and maybe have his baby.
Formulaic yes, indeed with so many confusing rules and so many ways of interpreting those rules. But those rules are there for a reason. They work. Books with no conflict are passed over. The reader goes meh and forgets that book. Books with too much conflict tend to confuse the reader and they go huh. Conflict done just right makes the reader go "y'all have got to read this shit".
And you want your readers to say "y'all have got to read this shit". It's what sells books.
So rules. GMC yes. Set your goal. Discover what motivates your protagonist. Create a worthy antagonist who seeks nothing more than the destruction of your protag's very life. And then set the conflict. The black moment. And the HEA will come. Because you built the foundation.
And you got your sandwich. Now eat it.
And enjoy.
Mercy
next week in Romance 101: POV?
Source: http://mercyceleste.blogspot.com/2013/02/romance-101-rules-gmc.html
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